1. The first takeaway is that Trump won decisively. He won the popular vote*, and ran up the score in the Electoral College. Astonishingly, more than half the white women who voted, voted for him. This is not a Bush v. Gore nail-biter, but a complete repudiation of Hillary Clinton, the value of expertise, and the extant political system.

2. The GOP, such as it is, no longer has the luxury of being the party of obstruction. With control of both House and Senate as well as the White House and a shit-ton of state capitols and legislatures, Republicans need to actually govern. Last time they were in charge, they started an expensive and unnecessary war in Iraq that led to the creation of ISIS, and also almost collapsed the global economy. Maybe they’ll be better now. Continue reading Initial Election Thoughts→

The big names brought in by Trump yesterday — Scott Baio, Antonio Sabato, Jr., his wife Melania — all became famous, at least at first, because of their looks.

Trump, remember, is the guy who cares so much about looks that he bought the Miss America Pageant, and won’t shut up about how hot Ivanka is.

He is shallow. Covers matter more to him than books. Because he doesn’t read books.

2.

Why is Scott Baio speaking at a political convention? Has he, like, done anything that I’m unaware of in the political sphere, in the way, say, George Clooney or Mark Ruffalo have? Why do we care what he has to say? And can Henry Winkler speak in Philly next week and tell him to sit on it?

3.

Trump does not understand the concept of suspense-building. If he directed Jaws, the shark would appear right at the gate, and in every scene throughout. Will he be able to stay away until his big speech later in the week? I doubt it.

4.

Melanie did a nice job delivering Michelle Obama’s speech. She looked poised. It’s sort of stunning that a Slovene supermodel could be the next First Lady. But the speech itself taught us nothing new about her husband. Not a single personal detail was revealed.

5.

I turned on the TV, and this old gray guy with a maniacal face was shouting about stuff, and I thought it was a scene from a horror movie. Nope, it was Alabama’s Jeff Sessions!

As the backlash against her gets more intense, my feelings about her grow stronger. We have the candidate most able to get things done, things liberals care about…and she’s far and away the most qualified person to ever seek the office. I really hope we don’t screw this up.